Malaysian Favourite: Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak is an all time favourite Malaysian dish, it is a traditional Malay dish that serves as the much-loved national dish of Malaysia basically consists of coconut milk infused rice served with an assortment of crunchy, fried dried anchovies, slices of cool cucumber, a handful of roasted peanuts, a half-boiled egg and a generous serving of hot, spicy chilli paste, otherwise known as ‘sambal’.
During the old days, this dish was a familiar breakfast fixture, but its increasing popularity has made it a versatile meal, enjoyed by food lovers round the clock. They are usually served steaming hot in a protective wrapping of banana leaves that lend a traditional feel to the presentation of this dish besides serving to impart their aromatic fragrance to the rice.

The rice is normally cooked with a combination of coconut milk and knotted pandan leaves. But these days, many have found that adding shavings of ginger and lemon grass helps improve the flavour and fragrance of the rice further, giving a more aromatic eating experience.

Like most Malaysian dishes, this dish has been tweaked to suit the myriad of cultures present in this country as well as the varying preferences of the people who enjoy them. As a result of this, the original ‘sambal’ is now being substituted by other spicy gravies, such as chicken sambal and cuttlefish sambal among others, and the hard-boiled egg now comes with a fried egg option too. Personally, the best nasi lemak lies on the rice and the sambal, the condiments are just the added value that turn the good nasi lemak to the best.